Do any of you rely on video game reviews, before playing, or purchasing a video game?

For instance, let's say that a Super Mario game was rated "5 / 10" by a couple of video game reviews. Would you still try out that Super Mario game, to see how you personally feel about the game, or, would you reconsider even purchasing the game, because of a few reviews? Any other thoughts?

Absolutely not. I remember buying Bomberman Fantasy Race after seeing poor reviews and was given a 30/100 score. I only bought it because of the Bomberman name, and to be frank, it was one of the best games that I had ever played. Sometimes these reviewers know nothing.

Some other games, if given a low score, I'll view them on youtube and see what they are like. If they look good, then I'll probably play it.

No way, as most of these games that Get Good reviews are FPS like Cod which is the same game with little changes, I would look at the game I want on Youtube before I madew my choice on getting the game or not.

Even if an game got bad reviews I'd still get if I saw YT videos of it.

I don't pay much attention to reviews. Numbers are completely meaningless to me. I usually know if I'm going to buy a game or not when it releases. If the answer is no, I'll only buy it later on down the line if it's gotten a lot of good feedback by the general populous on the websites I visit. I trust a whole crowd of people singing a game's praise over a handful of reviewers when it comes out. You can bribe reviewers, you can't really bribe people who already paid for your game. :P

But even if a game I'm really excited for gets a bad score in its initial reviews, I'll probably buy it anyway. I mean, I've been excited for ages. I'd like to make the opinion myself. (For example, if a new Kingdom Hearts game got horrible reviews, I'd probably be a sucker and buy it anyway because I'd rather discover that for myself and I wouldn't want it to hurt my excitement.)

I was always check reviews but I couldn't care less about the number ratings people give. I just like to read about what they have to say because sometimes I end up liking a game for the same reasons someone else hates them and vice versa.

Considering there have been websites that have been known to be paid off to give good reviews (IGN comes to mind), I never trust any initial reviews, at least, not from the so called "experts." There've been many games that I've played that are mediocre that have scored near perfect reviews, and others that are some of my favorites, but scored a 3 or 4 out of 10. If it's a game that I'm semi-interested in, I'll wait for a few weeks until the general public gives their opinions on it. If everyone's saying that it's a really good game in spite of so-so reviews, chances are I'll probably pick it up.

I also try doing a lot of my own research too if I'm on the fence about a game. A big thing I used to do (not so much lately) was go on YouTube and watch multiple user reviews about a game, and videos of gameplay footage. It's also why I miss being able to go somewhere like Blockbuster to rent a game- I won't feel as bad paying $8 to try a bad game for a few days than paying $60+ on a new copy, only to have it collect dust on my shelf.

Reviews are important to help determine the future of long-running franchises, along with the sales. It's also important that the latest installment of a long-running franchise must have enough positive reviews and sales to dethrone the best installment of said franchise, which is why I hoped Skyward Sword and Gen V would somehow dethrone OoT and Gen II, but no, the fanbase only made those games the most polarized installments in the series.

To answer my own question, I've always thought that professional reviews provided a gate way towards a game that is "safe" -- that is, a game that can be easily enjoyable to play without resorting to tastes. Usually I make decisions to buy games that are considered to be fun to play with spending as few money as possible. Ultimately, I'd rely on reviews to find out about games or the series of games that I haven't seen or played before. When it comes to gaming series that I like, such as pokemon, the Ace Attorney series, and the Legend of Zelda, I'd defiantely buy those games without resorting to reviews.

I usually check reviews, but I also look up gameplay to see if it suits my style. I know some reviewers highlight some of my pet peeves, but I usually do both to make sure the game I'm getting is worth my time.

It normally just depends with me, if it's a series that I'v played before and enjoyed I'll probably go ahead and buy it without looking at reviews. But if it's just a new, original game or just something from a series I've never played before, I'll probably look at the reviews first to see if I will like it. Case in point, I was thinking about getting Aliens: Colonial Marines until I saw the reviews for it.

I only look at game reviews just to get a general idea of what the game possibly might be like, however I don't trust game reviews because everyone has their own preferences on the kinds of game they think are good and bad.

No, due to the four point scale phenomenon. A score of 5/10 should mean a game is fine, unexceptional but without major issues.
Regardless, some of my favourite games don't achieve favourable reviews as they are not immediately intuitive games that any reviewer can simply pick up and pass first impressions on while expecting said impressions to be valid.

Short answer, no. I never have unless it was recommended to me by another individual. I usually buy games based on the appeal and previews, and maybe if it's clamored enough by fans. Otherwise I stick to franchises anyway and make all kinds of blind purchases.

I didn't even watch any videos or look at any ratings or have much of an idea at all what the heck DeathSmiles was, but it looked like a hori-shmup and that was good enough for me. Ended up being one of my favorite all time games. I bought DoDonPachi Resurrection because it was developed by CAVE. I also played other games in the DoDonPachi series. I don't like it as much as DS, but I still think it's a neat game, and don't mind having shelled out the money.

I bought WarioWare Inc.:Mega Microgame$ in 2003 because it looked funny and appealed to my short attention span while I tried it at Best Buy or something. Bought it right off. Same thing for Rhythm Heaven (DS), plus I knew it was done by the WW team.

That's just an example of my usual reasoning. If it's cute and has an art style I can get behind (or draw myself <_<), I'll play it. That's usually how it goes.

I don't rely on reviews. I don't remember the last time I may have turned something down due to bad reviews.

But I do look at them. Well, at least the aggregates. If overall the game has like a 2%, chances are its bad. If something is average a 70, 80, or 90 it doesn't make a difference to me. If its a 50 on average, I'll probably avoid it but that hasn't happened yet

If it's a series I like, or a game I know is going to be good, I don't really do much research. But if I'm trying to decide if a game is one that I'll enjoy, reviews are just part of my research. I tend to trust the smaller, independent sites over the big corporate ones like IGN and Gamespot though. They get too many advertising dollars to be really trustworthy. I also don't just look at one site - I take a look at a wide variety of reviews, especially if there are some that are more positive and others that are negative.

But I also use gameplay videos/footage, feedback from internet forums/communities, and other methods to decide whether or not I'm interested in a game.

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